Al Meets a Star
by lilaclily00
Summary: While Al wanders around alone, waiting for Ed to finish with his State Alchemist business, he makes a new friend... This is my first fanfic, and pretty much my first time writing in 3rd person (I've only written in 1st) so hope I did an okay job.
1. Chapter 1

Al Meets a Star

A small gray kitten sat in a thin alleyway between two stores, shivering inside of its box half-filled with newspaper. The poor abandoned animal had lack of food in that part of town, and knew it didn't have the strength to travel. While it wouldn't admit it, this kitty needed some help.

It was probably around 2:00 PM when the kitten heard some loud metallic clanking, jerking it fully awake. After a moment, it realized it sounded like metal footsteps! The fluffball cowered away, hoping the being would not notice it. However, in the process, it accidentally made the newspaper shuffle a little bit, causing the smallest sound that only someone close enough could hear. Must've been enough, because the thing with the scary footsteps appeared at the entrance of the alley, towering over 7 feet above the cat. The head clinked as it looked down at the kitten, then made some other metal pops and ka-chinks as it walked a few steps and dropped to its knees so they were face-to-face.

"Aaaw, you're so cute! Too bad you're so thin... Maybe I'll bring you home with me! I can feed you there."

The little kitten of course didn't understand the metal being, but it did realize it is a person. It did talk like one, and walk like one. But the voice was much higher than it had expected for someone so big. The kitty just sat there confused, until the metal human leaned over to pick it up. Wide-eyed, the stray started to back out, ready to leave, but it didn't get to go far because there wasn't anywhere where it could escape. The human lifted it up in the air with its large fingers and then towards its body, cradling the fragile kitten.

"Of course you are light, but I can't tell. Forgive me if I hold you too hard, it's kinda hard to control strength you can't feel."

The kitten became surprised that such a large metal human picked it up with such care, and it was weird that it could not feel any body heat from someone that could move. The metallic man stared at the cat through glowing red eyes while the cat stared back at the metallic man with sincere curiosity.

"Okay, let's go now."

The human held the kitten on one of its huge palms while with the other grabbed its head and pulled it back. It revealed black emptyness instead of a neck. The kitten was taken aback and wanted to run, but couldn't from the air. The human must have realized how spooked the poor thing was, so instead of sticking it inside of its body, it pulled out a tiny blanket out of the darkness and snapped back on the head.

"Yeah, everyone gets scared when I do that. I don't want you to be scared of me, so I'll just carry you on my shoulder or something."

The metal human clinked as it unfolded the small piece of fabric and spread it across its left shoulder, tucking it in-between joints to keep it in place, then passed the kitten from its hand to the blanket. It stood still, waiting for the cat to calm down and get settled, and walked slowly out of the alley and to the streets.

Part of the way through their silent journey, the not-so-human turned its head toward its passenger with a metallic pop and spoke.

"Brother is always telling me to leave strays alone, but I can't help it. Then when I do, he tells me to not name them, because 'you will get attached emotionally to those monsters.' I still want to name you, though. What do you want?"

The kitty just returned the stare, not knowing what the chunk of metal was saying. The man stopped, then grabbed the kitten carefully to inspect it. It gasped when it found the black mark near its belly that looked kinda like a 5-pointed star. It rubbed a thumb along the black fur star that stood out from the gray fur surrounding it, confirming that it was not just dirt.

"That is so cool! I guess I'll call you Star."

The metal human put the kitten back on its shoulder, but the little animal decided to climb onto the head and hang onto a protrusion that stuck out of what would be the forehead, which looked like a horn. The giant continued to walk toward its destination, although looking sillier than before.

They finally stood in front of an inn, and the metal human sighed.

"Well, here we are, Star. I don't know if Brother is back already, so maybe I should hide you until I know the coast is clear."

The man guided the kitten back to the shoulder, so it could have access to the head. A big hand pulled the head backwards, once again revealing a hollow shell. Star was picked up to be placed inside, and originally was nervous, but must have trusted the metal human enough to know it will never give harm. The kitten and the blanket were put in carefully and arranged so that they wouldn't fall to the legs. The 'human' then proceeded to put back on its head and walk slowly and cautiously up to its room at the inn.

Fumbling with the key, the door was opened and after a brief inspection of the room, the metal giant decided it was safe and brought the kitty out into open space. While the cat wandered around the room, it's partner closed the door and fast-walked over to the bags of food from the grocery store to feed the guest. A bowl filled with water was placed on the ground, for the man knew there would never be milk, and after a little bit, also put a bowl with warm cooked ground beef on the side. The kitten ate quickly, and with a short amount of time it was licking away at the bottom of the bowls.

Star rubbed against the metal human's legs, showing thanks and love for the human, and the man was leaning over with metallic snaps to pet the kitten when the door opened and in walked a short human (or at least seemed short compared to the metal man) with bright hair and another human with black hair. They paused at the door to take in the scene before them. Then the shorter one's face started to look red and it's hands got balled up and stiff.

"B-brother! Colonel?"

"AL, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE THOSE DEMONS ALONE?!"

The angry human, who sure was loud for its size, scared the wits out of the poor kitten, and drove it to hide behind its new friend, hoping for protection.

"But Brother, you didn't see how skinny and defenseless this kitten was when I picked it up!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU SAY EVERY TIME!"

"You're scaring Star!"

"AND EVEN WORSE, YOU NAMED THE THING!"

The kitten poked its head out from behind the metal to see the shorter human yelling about who knows what and the giant seeming to try to reason with him, and the black-haired human with its hand on its face with a defeated sigh.


	2. Chapter 2

**I didn't realize before how author's notes worked... Well it's my first time posting after all. Too lazy to add one to the first chapter. *shrug* Anyways, nice to meet you all! I'm lilaclily00, or Lily. This is inspired by I Am Darkrai's Al one-shots... But this is a two-shot! Total difference! *mind blown* Well, on I go with the second half to "Al Meets a Star!" (Also giving credit to Darkrai for the name... *sweat drop* Gotta work on my originality...)**

* * *

2 years later:

A skinny gray cat wandered around the blocks near where it lived, hoping to find food. Now it had more strength than when it was a baby, but still didn't try to go far unless it had found enough to eat for energy.

It started to rain, and there were few places immediately it could go to for shelter. It frantically ran around trying to find a roof, hoping to not continue to be smacked by water, and a minute later saw a human who also was trying to escape the weather. It probably had not been able to get inside in time. It caught up to the man, hoping that maybe it knew where to go. The human looked over and down and saw the soaked cat.

"Oh my gosh, you poor thing! I'll protect you!"

It reached down and picked up the cat, surprised by the weight, which was unnaturally light compared to how it should've been. When standing back up, the hood on the man fell backwards, revealing his bright hair and eyes, which stood out compared to how most humans looked, even though to the stray all humans looked the same. The man's face radiated with kindness, and it smiled while it stared into the cat's mesmerizing eyes.

"Ok uuuuuuh I forgot an umbrella so I guess I'll stuff you underneath my coat. I was gonna wash my shirt anyways..."

He temporarily unbuttoned his coat and tucked the cat in, using one hand underneath to make sure the feline didn't fall, and with the other pulled back up its hood and then wrapped the coat around the cat's body and hung onto the pieces of fabric for dear life as it ran down the street.

It did not stop until they arrived in front of an apartment building, and there the human pushed the door open with its hip and climbed up a few flights of stairs hurriedly, nearly slipping a few times, and finally got to a certain door, where it stood for a moment panting and waiting for its heart to slow down, which even the cat could hear and feel well. The human used the hand holding the coat to wipe at its forehead and then reach into a pocket to retrieve keys. The door opened towards the room after a few clicks, welcoming the two inside, which the man received gratefully.

After shutting the door behind them, the human used both its hands to place the cat safely onto the floor of the apartment, then went to quickly pour some milk into a bowl and give it to the cat, who meanwhile had been shaking the water out of its fur. The human left the animal with its drink to do something. A minute later it returned with a different shirt on, and it hurried to the kitchen to make food for both of them.

"I'm used to feeding strays here, but I forgot to get some more earlier today. I guess we'll have to make do with hamburger meat."

It did not take long until the cat was served with the bowl of warm cooked ground beef. Then suddenly the cat was attacked with a memory from when it was a kitten. It was of a metal human, who did pretty much the same thing as this human did. The pieces suddenly clicked together: they both had the same voice, the same kindness, and they both stuffed the kitty inside of them/their clothes... It ate without really thinking, for it was trying to make sense of the revelation. There was something that the stray thought might make it official. It walked up to the man and started to 'shiver' violently.

"Oh no! Hang on a moment, kitty!"

The human ran out of the sight of our little actor, and with some noises of struggle and things falling, it came back with the same small blanket from 2 years ago.

The cat nearly jumped for joy and ran to the man and rubbed against its legs, purring louder than it ever had before. The human became kind of startled, wondering why he suddenly got the affection. The cat tried to figure out how to make its friend know who it was. It decided maybe the man would know if it got a closer look. It meowed and reached up the long legs of the man until it was picked up. It held in the urge to squirm away as it was petted on the head and carried like a baby. The human eventually saw a black star on the underside in the midst of the gray fur and the memory returned to it as well.

"Oh hey, I remember you now! I think I named you Star. You probably don't remember me, though, since I think I was still a suit of armor. You were a kitten back then! Time flies."

The cat continued to cuddle up to its recovered friend as they both reminisced in memory. Then the human noticed the animal stare at the door like it was waiting.

"...Oh yeah, Brother and Colonel Mustang had interrupted your visit last time. Wait, what's his rank again?... Anyways, this is my own place, and the chances of either showing up are extremely slim. I can't keep cats here, (stupid rules,) but if you want, you can hang nearby."

"Brother, isn't that such a coincidence? Meeting the exact same cat from about 2 years ago! Especially since that other time I think we were in a different area."

"Al, you know I don't really care for your cat sto-"

"I wouldn't have recognized it without that birth mark! It's one of a kind!"

"Al, I don't have much time to talk on the phone, and I'd prefer if we could use that time to talk about more important thi-"

"Sure Star is older, but is still as cute as ever. I wish you and Colonel Mustang hadn't made me drop the poor thing back into the street."

"Uuuuuugh, Al, I have something to tell yo- WAIT STAR?! THAT CAT FREAKING TRIED TO SCRATCH OUT MY EYES! HOW ARE YOU HAPPY TO SEE THAT DEMON?!"

*static heard on the call*

"Brother, it's not my fault you scared the poor thing so much. You know cats can defend themselves."

"AL NEXT TIME I SEE YOU THAT CAT BETTER NOT BE EVEN WITHIN THE CITY PERIMETER OR I'LL USE MY AUTOMAIL LEG ON YOUR HEAD AND STAR'S!"

"ED THAT'S ANIMAL ABUSE!"

"I DON'T CAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRE" *muffled raging* *beep beep beep*

...

"Ed?"

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**The end! :D Is it as glorious as you imagined? Probs not... Please review or PM with ideas on how to improve future stories. Probably needs a lot, especially since I've always only written in 1st person before... (Or write about a character that already exists.) Seriously. Not too shabby considering, right? Also, it would be awesome to get ideas for some other stuff I can write. Don't expect a story with millions of chapter yet, though, cuz I'm horrible with remembering to do stuff weekly or whatever. I'll figure that out once the plot comes to me, I guess. Until then, I'll have plently times to write during WINTER BREAK! WHOO-HOOOOO! *strobe-light dancy party* K bai!**


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